Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I needed to make some sugar free muffins this week and I had oatmeal on the brain. I also had a bunch of overripe bananas, but I couldn't find a recipe that had both oatmeal and bananas, so I ended up going to my new "Company's Coming Mostly Muffins" cookbook, which has the most amazing muffin recipes, and took inspiration from two recipes: Basic Banana Muffins and Basic Oatmeal Muffins. I really liked the texture and flavour I got. I also liked the numbers that came up when I crunched them. I think these would be really good with chopped walnuts or pecans, together with or instead of the mini chocolate chips- (which are great for muffins because they are tiny and give the illusion of chocolaty goodness without actually adding too much chocolate). It made a lovely big batch of pretty large muffins. I'm hoping they freeze well, as the extras were tossed into the freezer this morning for breakfast and snacks later on.

1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
1 cup buttermilk (or milk soured with a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice)

1 cup all-purpose white flour
1/2 cup all-purpose whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Splenda, artificial sweetener (you could make it 1/3 cup if you like 'em sweet)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup Canola/vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

Combine oatmeal and buttermilk in a medium sized bowl. Let stand 10 minutes.

Combine next 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.

Add eggs, oil, vanilla and bananas to the oatmeal mixture. Mix well. Add to the well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Stir gently to combine, until just moistened.

Divide between 15 paper-lined or greased muffin cups. Bake at 375*F for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Let stand in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cooled with butter if desired.

Makes 15 large muffins.

Nutritional Analysis per 1 muffin:
Calories:  154
Total Fat: 6.4 g
Cholesterol: 27 mg
Sodium: 178 mg (lower this to 100 mg by omitting the salt)
Potassium: 112.55 mg
Carbohydrates: 20 g
Fibre: 2 g
Sugars: 6 g
Protein: 4 g